by Being a Product Manager – is it more than being a Product Owner? Are these two roles similar? In what aspects do they relate or differ? Who is accountable for what the Product is in the end?
Historically, product management came to life as a standalone role within the FMCG industry and from there on, it started its way towards IT in the form we are seeing it today. Initially, product function was going hand in hand with Marketing and only later, it completely separated itself as full term. Now, within tech domain, product management is intrinsically connected to the core product and its delivered value.
Nowadays, with agile methodologies spreading more and more into diverse fields of activity of everyday life, most frequent question we are facing, quite often turns into a debate – are there differences between what a Product owner and a Product manager does/should do?
Well, here is my view on the subject – first and foremost I think both roles are responsible for delivering value and in charge crafting and taking product vision to its complete form. While the product owner would be more oriented to deliver value as frequent as possible, so that progress can be sensed by multiple stakeholders, nevertheless, product manager is the “visionary”, the person who imagines what the future is looking like, based on constant dialog with the market & existing clients / existing users
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that either of them is having the key / definite answer on what would be “the right vision” of the product. I believe both are bringing inputs from different angles, however it’s the product manager, who should have the ultimate decision and the responsibility coming with it.
Imagine this relationship between these two roles by comparing it with a rowing team – these teams are usually in the format of 2, 4 or 8 rowers and a coxswain. The latter one is the one who sits in the racing shell facing the bow (looking towards the direction of movement) and is steering the boat and coordinating the power and rhythm of the rowers. Now, during the race, the team coach can not speak with the boat crew so the coxswain is playing in fact the role of the coach while racing / while in the boat.
If we push this analogy further, we can say that, the team coach is rather similar with the role of the product manager, coxswain is rather close to the role of the product owner and rowers are the engineering teams taking the product to life. All are instrumental to the success or failure of any endeavor; none can succeed without the others.
You may ask – can product owner and product manager be played by the same person? I think yes, this is achievable and rather feasible in some projects. Moreover, it might be even desirable or let’s say, more favorable to have vision and execution better synced and aligned.
So, what’s your take on the subject? How do you see accountabilities of these two roles?
